Thabarwa Sayadaw has had a meteoric rise in Myanmar. After weathering a series of crises that threatened the very existence of his monastery, the Burmese monastic’s mission is now expanding at an unprecedented rate across not only the country but the entire world. And then there is his monastery itself, which is redefining the role of monasticism and the shape of Burmese Buddhism in the 21st century. In this inaugural interview, Thabarwa Sayadaw shares his biography from layman to monastic, as well as the early start of his monastery.